I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

The small sampan under his buttocks had vanished. Li Lin stood on the breakwater, which was half submerged by the sea, holding an excited Nian Tuanzi in his arms. Not far away, an exile was sitting in the seawater, clutching his chest. Wilting and Xingti were speeding towards him in their small boat.

"I don't want to look."

280 layers of routine

"I thought I was dead."

With the help of Star Antimony and Apple, the exile managed to board the ship and collapsed onto the deck.

Then came Li Lin, who was slowly climbing up the rope ladder. Nian grabbed his hair and shook him back and forth, which made Li Lin not to be outdone. He quickly shook his head back and forth, trying to make Nian dizzy.

thump.

Mr. Li and Nian both fell into the sea.

"Uh-oh!"

Nian struggled frantically after falling into the water. Seeing this, Li Lin was not to be outdone and quickly raised his hands to slap the water, splashing huge waves.

“Are you two naughty children?!” the exile shouted at the top of his lungs from the ship’s side.

Fortunately, Li Lin and Nian were both able to survive the drowning, and they were quickly pulled out of the water by Apple and Xingti, the two "tool men".

"Puff puff puff puff——"

As Nian Tuanzi lay on the deck spitting out water, Li Lin had a sudden inspiration and took out a specially made thermos from the dark green table to fill it with water—Nian's normal body temperature was 1400 degrees Celsius, so the water she drank was already boiled.

Those who are fiery, those who are immortal, are good in every way, but they are weak in water.

Just as the Daytime Forge uses the water from the river in the painting to cool the furnaces in the forge, the cooler water can slow down the movements and impair the thinking of the Blazing Ones—it won't kill them, but it will slow them down.

Arcana set the battlefields of the historical tributaries at sea, perhaps as a way to limit the years, but she never expected that the years could evaporate an entire tributary and then recast it.

After vomiting out the water in her stomach, Nian turned over and reached out to Li Lin, signaling him to pick her up.

Master Li tucked the New Year's dumplings into his pocket.

“No, in fact you did die once,” Nian suddenly said.

The exile then realized that last year was an answer to his earlier reflections—

In their previous encounter with Arcana, the Exiles were ambushed beforehand, and because they were at a disadvantage from the start, they didn't even have time to activate the Blood of the Earth buff before Arcana ripped out their hearts.

If she hadn't been born with her heart on the right side, she wouldn't have even survived to the age of 18 to burn historical tributaries and rewrite history.

Li Lin chuckled coldly from the side: "Colonel, when did your mother...?"

The pragmatic exile, Ghostly Exorcist, reached out and covered Li Lin's mouth, fearing he might utter something shocking.

After realizing what had happened, the exile understood that things weren't as he had thought: "So that old woman Arcana didn't die?"

“The immortals do not die easily.” It was Veltin who answered her, pressing her bowler hat against the sea breeze, her silver-green sideburns fluttering back. “Unless they are sent back to their homeland, or they give up their immortality themselves.”

Normally, in a sudden encounter, no immortal will die at the hands of another immortal. They have lifespans far exceeding what ordinary people can comprehend, and have traversed numerous historical milestones throughout their long history. These will become the anchor points for their return from history.

The greatest strength of an immortal is not their physical power or inhuman nature, but the wisdom and connections that come with a long lifespan, not only in the waking world, but also in the higher realms of existence.

Because of their long lifespan, they were able to make their moves at a leisurely pace throughout history. Their vision was so far-reaching that a casual move might not take effect for decades or even a century.

Disputes between immortals are usually resolved only after a long period of entanglement, when all of the other party's options have been completely blocked, or by accomplishing great feats to attract the attention of higher levels, or by offering new immortal seats to bring in allies...

In short, the sudden encounter doesn't prove anything. Although Arcana was prepared, its "preparation" was far too rudimentary and crude for the long lifespan of an immortal.

Arcana's choice to target the exiles is even more perplexing.

The blood of the earth originates from the flint and wheel of the ancient deceased celestial beings. Its lineage is so noble that it is no less than that of those with names, and most immortals are not even qualified to be compared with them.

Even the Sichen who lost in the War of the Overturned Stones are still Sichen, and moreover, they are not truly dead—given the right timing, they can return directly from the Void Realm.

If the exile is an immortal by then, she will benefit from her bloodline and be directly promoted to a named immortal, which is something that those immortals who try their best to make trouble to win Si Chen's favor cannot achieve.

But the more this is the case, the more valuable the exiles become. Even Ligeia would show leniency because of her blood of the earth. Arcana, however, not only doesn't cooperate, but also attacks the exiles. It should be understood that even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance that the exiles can win the great battle against their father, Defort, they should not place their bets in advance.

Or is it that Arcana, as a secret immortal, has foreseen some unknown future and is about to deliver a thunderous blow to the stubborn exiles?

Or perhaps, even if Arcana takes action against the exiles, it's all a prelude to her next plan?

“At least she won’t be able to pull off this kind of trick again anytime soon,” Nian said lazily. “I’ve crushed her future self.”

The other eight immortals of the principles are all doing their best to push their existence into the past, aiming to leave their nodes in a more ancient history until they reach the beginning of that history. Only the immortals of the secret history can freely traverse many histories. They are the only ones who send their existence into the future.

This is why there are so few extraordinary beings and mystics in the Secret History Code—they do not exist in the past or present, but in the future; they are future beings existing in relation to the Scaled Species.

The year destroyed one of Arcana's future incarnations, and in the process, evaporated several historical tributaries that had been intercepted. As a result, history will be in some degree of chaos for some time to come. Although this chaos is as insignificant as ripples on water in a gentle breeze to the Named Ones and the Divine Stars, the butterfly effect that follows will prevent the existence of secret historical principles like Arcana from coming from the future.

Li Lin watched the women chatting animatedly from the sidelines, wisely keeping his collaboration with Arcana a secret.

No one noticed Li Lin's smug expression on his face.

You think I'm a member of Reshaping Hands, but actually I'm your comrade. However, if you really think I'm your comrade, then I, Li Lin, will tell you that you are very wrong.

Li Lin, who seemed quite aware of the significance of nesting dolls, revealed a smug smile. After a moment, Virtin noticed that Li Lin hadn't spoken for a while and gestured for him to give his opinion.

"So you all want to follow my advice to take your next step...? Am I right?" Li Lin repeated his thoughts and turned to look at everyone present.

"What made you have the misconception that I am very useful?"

281 Some minor tasks

Li Lin was absolutely right; he was never one to settle for mediocrity and live day to day.

Why sit when you can lie down? Why cook when you can order takeout? Why smoke e-cigarettes when you can smoke traditional cigarettes? Why work when you can steal? Why deliberately seek out goblins to self-destruct when you can quickly complete the main storyline and collect eroge CGs? Why look for a girlfriend when you can masturbate yourself?

Li Lin was very proud of this and planned to show it off smugly.

"Tsk." The exiles and others looked on with a knowing expression and turned back to discuss their next course of action.

They knew that Li Lin had never disappointed them, so they didn't expect him to play a decisive role. They just hoped that he would suddenly have some inspiration.

The next course of action will naturally focus on the exiles—Dieford and his liquidators are still in Krakow, doing who knows what, but it is conceivable that, given the opportunity, the liquidators will use the cruelest means to retaliate against the exiles, this traitor.

Therefore, the original plan to go to Munich to find Count Jannings fell through again, and the exiles could only choose another sea route to search along the clues of the overturned ruins.

The exiles have already obtained two remnants of the painting: the Sun Kiss Stone and "Emerald Green Like Rain in Memory".

Virtue, who comes from the Foundation, can provide three clues about the remnants of the painting. Apart from the Sun Kiss Stone that has already been obtained, there is also a crimson "glove". It is rumored that one of the features of the Crimson Cup, the "Crimson Midwife", wore this glove when the Vermilion Cup was born.

The other thing was a peculiar guitar.

Although I don't know how a guitar became a remnant of a painting, it is certainly significant.

As for the two messages provided by the Reconstruction Hand, they were somewhat bizarre: one of the overprinted traces was a half-smoked cigar—supposedly from an immortal being.

The last trace of the overprinted image is an even more bizarre creation: a scar.

And this scar must fall on the exile himself...etc.

Snyder's expression darkened. She seemed to realize something and pulled open her clothes in surprise. Li Lin peeked out, but Nian blocked his view with her belly.

On the exile's small, flat chest lay a scar that had healed at some unknown time. The wound had completely healed when the exile discovered it, but when her fingertips touched it, she could still feel the coolness seeping through them.

It was like a snowflake falling on my heart.

The exiles lacked data vision, but Virtin could sense that this scar, like the Sun Kiss Stone and "Emerald Rain in Memory," possessed the power to withstand the erosion of torrential rain.

Even if Deaver rushed over now and smashed the exiles to pieces, the scar on her heart would remain, becoming a treasure on someone's table until it was taken in by the Foundation.

But this makes Arcana's image somewhat paradoxical. Or is it that the immortals of the Secret History Code are truly all-knowing?

"So how do we get to sea?" Xing Ti was second only to Li Lin in her carefree nature. She pulled up her sunglasses, but her gaze still turned to Li Lin.

It's pathetic that these guys, who find no way out through proper thinking, can only resort to unorthodox methods.

Li Lin's suggestion to find someone more capable was not just modesty. How could someone like him, who was always causing trouble, suddenly become a savior?

But Nian said that everyone has already made their decision, and only you can make the choice to help them.

Later, Li Lin could only recite two lines of poetry: "My strength is weak, my responsibilities are heavy, and my spirit is long exhausted; if I exert myself any further, my feeble body will surely give way." He could only do some minor tasks.

The "small task" refers to marking their next destination—Algiers—on the nautical chart.

......

"Oh...Master, ah, how could I have become like this?"

Forget-me-not's perspective suddenly lowered, as if some force had forced it back into its cramped and impoverished body from its transcendent spiritual state. In the instant it returned to its body, it even felt quite dissatisfied.

But the feeling quickly vanished—he realized he had been poisoned by the radiance.

That morbid obsession with higher knowledge, the pursuit of ultimate brilliance, and even the terrifying desire to dissolve oneself, is precisely the mad symptom called "obsession."

Arcana's body grew increasingly ethereal, like a fluttering veil. Her form and face appeared blurred behind the veil, like a soft mirror containing countless pieces of information and reflecting a myriad of lights, with a star-shaped scar piercing through it—

Just like the dragon with a triple crown, bearing the bronze sun and surrounded by the Bronze River, this soft mirror, containing countless pieces of information and reflecting many kinds of brilliance, is the true body beneath Arcana's humanoid shell.

This is why she wears a veil, because anyone who rashly lifts her veil will inevitably go mad by facing an infinitely possible future.

Forget-me-not quickly lowered its head, unable to look directly at Arcana's body.

He realized that his mentor had interrupted his Night Watchman's Lament ritual, stuffing his exposed spirit back into his body.

If this situation continues, even if it doesn't attract the attention of the Night's Watch, it will invite attacks from many secret cults, or become food for the alien species after entering the woodland.

"I was reckless."